MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.,
May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Synopsys,
Inc. (Nasdaq: SNPS) today announced that PLASMOfab, a research
project funded by the EU innovation program Horizon 2020, has been
successfully completed to enable mass manufacturing of
high-performance plasmo-photonic components. Launched in 2016, the
project has brought together leading industrial partners and
top-ranked academic and research institutes in the photonic
integrated circuit (PIC) and opto-electronics value chain,
including PhoeniX Software, now part of Synopsys' Photonic
Solutions.
The three-year research project has significantly advanced the
state of the art in PICs and CMOS-compatible plasmonics for optical
data communications and biosensing for point-of-care applications.
PLASMOfab has developed CMOS-compatible plasmonics to consolidate
advanced PICs with electronic ICs in volume manufacturing. The
project focused on CMOS-compatible metals and photonic structures
that are harmonically co-integrated with electronics using
standardized CMOS processes. As part of project validation, the PIC
platform was used along with advanced peripherals to develop
predominant functional modules with unprecedented performance.
A key project achievement was the development of a
groundbreaking ultra-compact plasmonic transmitter, which has a
footprint of 90 x 5.5 µm² to transmit 0.8 TBit/s (800Gbit/s)
through 4 individual 0.2 TBit/s transmitters. The project also
demonstrated CMOS-compatible plasmonic waveguides with the lowest
possible losses, as described in Nature's Scientific Reports
in September 2018.
"PLASMOfab's main goal has been to address the ever increasing
needs for low energy, small size, high complexity and high
performance mass manufactured PICs," said Nikos Pleros, assistant
professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. "We have achieved this
by developing a revolutionary yet CMOS-compatible fabrication
platform for seamless co-integration of active plasmonics with
photonic and electronic components."
As a result of the PLASMOfab research, two new companies have
been launched to commercialize the new technologies:
- bialoom Ltd will further explore plasmo-photonic biosensors in
multichannel and high-sensitivity point-of-care diagnostics by
combining plasmonic sensors with integrated Si3N4 photonic
functionalities, electrical controls, biofunctionalization
techniques, and microfluidics.
- Polariton Technologies Ltd. specializes in new photonic and
electronic technologies for the testing, sensing, and
telecommunications market. Their energy efficient and low-footprint
plasmonic modulator will convert microwave signals to optical
signals.
"We expect that further development of CMOS-compatible plasmonic
components with CMOS fabrication processes and photonics
technologies will demonstrate plasmonics' clear advantages in
PICs," said Dr. Dimitris Tsiokos,
principal researcher at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. "When the best of all three
worlds of plasmonics, photonics, and electronics converge in a
single integration platform, PICs with unprecedented performance
and functionality will be realized, targeting a diverse set of
applications and industrial needs while meeting mass production
requirements."
"We are pleased to have been working closely with the partners
in this project and especially with AMO and ams to develop R&D
PDKs for the new PLASMOfab integration technology," said Twan
Korthorst, director of Synopsys' Photonic Solutions. "The PDKs are
supported by our PIC design platform, which provides the industry's
only full design flow from photonic device level to PIC to system
levels."
About PLASMOfab
PLASMOfab was a three-year collaborative project on
CMOS-compatible photonic, plasmonic and electronic integration that
brought together ten leading academic and research institutes and
companies including the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Coordinator) (Greece), ams (Austria), AMO (Germany), PhoeniX Software, now part of
Synopsys (Netherlands), ETHZ
(Switzerland), Micram
(Germany), University of Saarland
(Germany), Austrian Institute of
Technology (Austria), University
of Burgundy (France) and Mellanox
(Israel). The project was launched
in January 2016 and it was funded by
the European Union's Horizon 2020 ICT research and innovation
programme under grant agreement No 688166. To learn more about the
results of PLASMOfab visit http://www.plasmofab.eu/.
About Synopsys' Photonic Solutions
Synopsys is driving the PIC revolution with design automation
solutions for a wide range of application requirements, from data
communications to sensors and biomedical devices. Synopsys' PIC
Design Suite, which comprises the OptSim™ Circuit and OptoDesigner
tools, offers a seamless PIC design flow from concept to
manufacturable design, as well as access to a single, world-class
support channel. Learn more at
https://www.synopsys.com/photonic-solutions.html.
About Synopsys
Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNPS) is the Silicon to
Software™ partner for innovative companies developing
the electronic products and software applications we rely on every
day. As the world's 15th largest software company,
Synopsys has a long history of being a global leader in electronic
design automation (EDA) and semiconductor IP and is also growing
its leadership in software security and quality solutions. Whether
you're a system-on-chip (SoC) designer creating advanced
semiconductors, or a software developer writing applications that
require the highest security and quality, Synopsys has the
solutions needed to deliver innovative, high-quality, secure
products. Learn more at www.synopsys.com.
Editorial Contact:
James
Watts
Synopsys, Inc.
650-584-1625
jwatts@synopsys.com
View original
content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/synopsys-and-photonics-industry-leaders-partner-to-advance-pic-technology-with-plasmonics-300841597.html
SOURCE Synopsys, Inc.